Dubai firm plans $30b Vietnam project

Dubai-based property developer Global Sphere has embarked on a mega-project in Vietnam that reportedly will cost $30 billion and take 17 years to complete, UAE and Vietnamese media has reported.

The company plans to build about 70 residential towers in Hanoi in an area dubbed the “Hanoi Wall Street.” The project will be a complete city inside the city covering an area of 35 square kilometers, Global Sphere Board Chairman Abdullah Al Sayegh was quoted as saying.

The first phase, valued at $10 billion, is expected to be finished by 2020. The project, located 4 kilometers from Hanoi International Airport, is the largest Vietnamese venture invested by an UAE-based company so far. Full completion is envisaged for 2030.

The engineering plan for the project resembles Downtown Dubai and will accommodate between 300,000 to 400,000 residents. Global Sphere consulted with UAE engineering firm NEXT.

The company enters as a partner in the project and provides funding ranging between 80 per cent and 100 per cent of the required investment value. Profit-sharing and retrieval is based on a case-by-case arrangement, Al Sayegh said.

The project, the first for Global Sphere in Vietnam, is supposed to serve as an entrance gate for UAE companies to the Vietnamese market. Global Sphere is also involved in a number of additional cooperations in Vietnam including the construction of Hoang Son Cement Company and a solar energy production partnership with Worldtech Corporation.